Robin Hickey - Böcker

This collection of critical essays considers the criminalisation of squatting from a range of different theoretical, policy and practice perspectives. While the practice of squatting has long been criminalised in some jurisdictions, the last few years have witnessed the emergence of a newly constituted political concern with unlawful occupation of land. With initiatives to address the ‘threat’ of squatting sweeping across Europe, the offence of squatting in a residential building was created in England in 2012. This development, which has attracted a large measure of media attention, has been widely regarded as a controversial policy departure, with many commentators, Parliamentarians, and professional organisations arguing that its support is premised on misunderstandings of the current law and a precarious evidence-base concerning the nature and prevalence of ‘squatting’. Moral Rhetoric and the Criminalisation of Squatting explores the significance of measures to criminalise squatting for squatters, owners and communities. The book also interrogates wider themes that draw on political philosophy, social policy, criminal justice and the nature of ownership, to consider how the assimilation of squatting to a contemporary punitive turn is shaping the political, social, legal and moral landscapes of property, housing and crime.

This collection of critical essays considers the criminalisation of squatting from a range of different theoretical, policy and practice perspectives. While the practice of squatting has long been criminalised in some jurisdictions, the last few years have witnessed the emergence of a newly constituted political concern with unlawful occupation of land. With initiatives to address the ‘threat’ of squatting sweeping across Europe, the offence of squatting in a residential building was created in England in 2012. This development, which has attracted a large measure of media attention, has been widely regarded as a controversial policy departure, with many commentators, Parliamentarians, and professional organisations arguing that its support is premised on misunderstandings of the current law and a precarious evidence-base concerning the nature and prevalence of ‘squatting’. Moral Rhetoric and the Criminalisation of Squatting explores the significance of measures to criminalise squatting for squatters, owners and communities. The book also interrogates wider themes that draw on political philosophy, social policy, criminal justice and the nature of ownership, to consider how the assimilation of squatting to a contemporary punitive turn is shaping the political, social, legal and moral landscapes of property, housing and crime.

Landmark Cases in Property Law explores the development of basic principles of property law in leading cases. Each chapter considers a case on land, personal property or intangibles, discussing what that case contributes to the dominant themes of property jurisprudence – How are property rights acquired? What is the content of property rights? What are the limits or boundaries of property? How are property rights extinguished? Individually and collectively, the chapters identify a number of important themes for the doctrinal development of property institutions and their broader justification. These themes include: the obscure and incremental development of seemingly foundational principles, the role of instrumentalism in property reasoning, the influence of the law of tort on the scope of property doctrines, and the impact of Roman legal reasoning on the common law of property. One or more of these themes (and others) is revealed through careful case analysis in each chapter, and they are collected and critically explored in the editors’ introductions. This makes for a coherent and provocative collection, and ensures that Landmark Cases in Property Law will be lively and essential reading for scholars, practitioners, and all those interested in the development of property principles at law.

This book contains a collection of peer-reviewed papers presented at the Eleventh Biennial Modern Studies in Property Law Conference held at Queen’s University Belfast in April 2016. It is the ninth volume to be published under the name of the Conference. The Conference and its published proceedings have become an established forum for property lawyers from around the world to showcase current research in the discipline. This collection reflects the diversity and contemporary relevance of modern research in property law. Following a foreword from the keynote speaker at the Conference, Queen’s alumnus Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, the chapters address a range of issues, from the nature of land law and property rights, through claims to the home and digital assets, to the growing debate on the nature of public property. Collectively the chapters demonstrate the vibrancy and importance of property law in dealing with modern concerns across the common law world.

This book contains a collection of peer-reviewed papers presented at the Eleventh Biennial Modern Studies in Property Law Conference held at Queen’s University Belfast in April 2016. It is the ninth volume to be published under the name of the Conference. The Conference and its published proceedings have become an established forum for property lawyers from around the world to showcase current research in the discipline. This collection reflects the diversity and contemporary relevance of modern research in property law. Following a foreword from the keynote speaker at the Conference, Queen’s alumnus Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, the chapters address a range of issues, from the nature of land law and property rights, through claims to the home and digital assets, to the growing debate on the nature of public property. Collectively the chapters demonstrate the vibrancy and importance of property law in dealing with modern concerns across the common law world.

Are finders keepers? This most simple of questions has long evaded a satisfactory legal answer. Generally it seems to have been accepted that a finder acquires a property right in the object of her find and can protect it from subsequent interference, but even this turns out to be the baldest statement of principle, resting on obscure and confused authority. This first full-length treatment of finders sets them in their legal-historical context, and discovers a fascinating area of law lying at the crossroads of crime, obligations, and property. That on the same facts a finder might be thief, bailee, and/or property right holder has clouded our conceptual analysis, and prevented us from stating simply our rules about finding. Nonetheless, when the applicable doctrines and policies of our property law (particularly the central concept of possession) are explored and understood in the light of countervailing rules of crime and tort, we can argue confidently that, despite centuries of doubt and confusion, English law has succeeded in producing a body of law that is theoretically and practically coherent.Property and the Law of Finders makes this argument, and will appeal to anyone specifically interested in the law of personal property, and also to those with broader concerns about the evolution of common law concepts and their ability to yield workable, practical solutions.